Strong enhancement of high-field critical current properties and irreversibility field of MgB2 superconducting wires by coronene active carbon source addition via the new B powder carbon-coating method

Abstract

We report an effective carbon-containing additive, coronene (C24H12), for MgB2 superconducting wires. We used B powder coated with C24H12 to fabricate MgB2 wires using the powder-in-tube (PIT) and internal Mg diffusion (IMD) processes. The in-field critical current properties are strongly enhanced for both PIT- and IMD-processed MgB2 wires. For PIT MgB2 wires, a critical current density (Jc) value of 1.8 × 104 A cm−2 is obtained at 4.2 K and 10 T. For IMD MgB2 wires, we obtained a Jc of 1.07 × 105 A cm−2 and an engineering Jc (Je) of 1.12 × 104 A cm−2 at 4.2 K and 10 T. These Jc and Je values are similar to the highest values reported for MgB2 wires thus far. Furthermore, the irreversibility field, Birr, determined with a current density criterion of 100 A cm−2, is strongly enhanced to 25 T at 4.2 K, which is also the highest value reported for MgB2 superconducting wires thus far. Coronene is an active carbon source for MgB2 superconducting wires because (1) coronene has a high carbon content (96 wt%) with a small amount of hydrogen (impurity), (2) the decomposition temperature for coronene is near the reaction temperature between Mg and B, and (3) uniform dispersion of coronene on the B surface can be obtained due to the melting point of coronene being lower than the decomposition temperature. Carbon substitution for B caused by the coronene active carbon source is mainly responsible for the high field critical current properties and the high Birr obtained in this work.